vain

Word family

vain /veɪn/ adjectiveadj → vein, vane

1 PROUDsomeone who is vain is too proud of their good looks, abilities, or position – used to show disapproval 自负的，自视过高的，虚荣的〔含贬义〕 SYN conceited

Men can be just as vain as women.

男人有时会和女人一样虚荣。

► see thesaurus at proud

2 in vain

a) FAILwithout success in spite of your efforts 徒劳，无结果

Police searched in vain for the missing gunman.

警方搜寻失踪的持枪歹徒，但毫无结果。

b) without purpose or without positive results 白白地

Altman swore that his son’s death would not be in vain.

阿尔特曼发誓他的儿子不会白死。

→ take somebody’s name in vain at name1(12)

Examples from the Corpus

in vain• If people don't learn from this, then his suffering and death were in vain.• It took a great deal of courage to admit that all her efforts had been in vain.• Police have spent hours searching in vain for the missing teenager.• Workers tried in vain to keep the building from collapsing.• Doctors tried in vain to save him but he died just before dawn.

3 FAILa vain attempt, hope, or search fails to achieve the result you wanted 徒劳的

vain attempt/effort/bid

The young mother died in a vain attempt to save her drowning son.

那位年轻的母亲没能救起溺水的儿子，自己也淹死了。

4. vain threat/promise etc literaryHARM/BE BAD FOR# a threat, promise etc that is not worrying because the person cannot do what they say they will 空洞的威胁/承诺等

—vainly adverbadv

The instructor struggled vainly to open his parachute.

教官拼命想打开降落伞，但没有成功。

n COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 3: a vain attempt, hope, or search fails to achieve the result you wanted

nouns

a vain attempt/bid/effort

People close their windows at night in a vain attempt to shut out the sound of gunfire.

a vain hope

Young men moved south in the vain hope of finding work.

a vain search

Mothers have been to every shop in town in a vain search for the toy.

Examples from the Corpus

vain• So look at your friends, see what they are a little vain about and then multiply by a factor of ten.• I remembered all my vain attempts to change his mind.• He stretched up his arms in a vain effort to reach the top of the embankment.• I am vain enough to want to look good, but not to style my hair and paint my toenails.• Pollsters have searched in vain for pockets of disloyalty.• The vain girl did a little dance in them, but when she tried to stop, the shoes kept on dancing.• She's a vain girl who is always thinking about her figure.• They are so vain in bed, much more vain than women.• Later, it tried in vain to conquer the whole of the subcontinent.

in a vain attempt• Curling his toes in a vain attempt to frustrate the inhospitable lino, Mungo watched, fascinated.• The protesters flung handfuls of earth into the trenches in a vain attempt to lift the siege of the West Bank town.• Atmel is spending $ 400 million this year in a vain attempt to meet demand.• Fifi was back at the bars and stretching out her hand in a vain attempt to reach the steel tray.• Once, I dived full-length across the court in a vain attempt to retrieve the ball.• People close their windows at night in a vain attempt to shut out the sound of sirens and gunfire.

Origin vain

(1300-1400) Old French Latin vanus “empty, vain”

vain adjectiveadj →n COLLOCATIONS1

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